Lee Cleared of Fraud Allegations
By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
An independent counsel has cleared President-elect Lee Myung-bak of all allegations concerning a financial scam and corruption.
Ending 38 days of investigation, special prosecutor Chung Ho-young said Thursday his team found no concrete evidence to prove any wrongdoing by Lee.
It is the second time that the President-elect was cleared of the allegations, following a first probe conducted by the prosecution ahead of the presidential election last December. The two-time exoneration is expected to allow him to make a fresh start in his presidency from Feb. 25.
However, the liberal United Democratic Party (ULD), the progressive Labor Democratic Party (DLP) and civic groups criticized the special investigators for what they call a cosmetic probe in an attempt to vindicate him. He is the first Korean President-elect to face a criminal investigation.
Lee was alleged to have taken part in the manipulation of stock prices of an investment firm BBK, set up by his former business partner Kim Kyung-joon, who claimed Lee was the actual owner of the company.
``Kim alone managed BBK and rigged the stock prices. There is no evidence that Lee was involved in the financial scam,'' Chung said in a nationally televised news conference.
Investigators expressed deep distrust in the Korean-American businessman Kim. Moon Kang-bae, an assistant prosecutor of the special team, summarized the BBK scandal as an incident where people were cheated by ``a black-haired foreigner.'' The term ``black-haired foreigners'' refer to Korean Americans who set up companies or funds in tax havens and purchase Korean stocks, pretending to be foreign investors.
``The BBK scandal is certainly a case where a `black-haired foreigner' made fun of the Republic of Korea,'' Moon said.
``We found that Kim had accumulated property through embezzlement and stock rigging. He also made different testimonies at U.S. courts and a Korean court, so we could not trust his testimony,'' he said.
On the land speculation allegation in Dogok-dong in southern Seoul, the counsel came to a different conclusion from the prosecution, but still cleared Lee of suspected ownership.
The President-elect was alleged to have purchased the land under the names of his brother and brother-in-law to illicitly amass wealth. The prosecution had said in the earlier investigation that the land seems to have been owned by a third person, but failed to disclose who the third person was.
The counsel, however, said the brother was the real owner. ``The brother had enough money to buy the land at that time. Lee also did not own land, stocks or other property under his family members' names, so it is groundless to conclude that he hid assets and violated the law on public officials' ethics,'' Chung said.
The probe had its limitations ― its duration of a maximum 40 days was considered by some as too short, and the counsel could not question some key figures involved as they were unavailable.
The team did question Lee ― but the questioning took place at a Seoul restaurant lasting only three hours, including dinner, which the investigators and Lee had together. It was said the counsel questioned Lee only to avoid criticism, which it might have faced if it had concluded the case without questioning the President-elect himself.
A civic group, the Solidarity for Peace and Reunification of Korea, said in a statement, ``The counsel ruled out indicting Lee from the beginning, and this is negligence of duty.''
``The special investigation team was meant to dispel suspicions, which had been raised after the prosecution cleared Lee of the allegations. But it produced another disappointing conclusion, and public distrust of Lee will only grow,'' it said.